Removing the Winter Cobwebs

Time to Shed the Layers

Yes, it’s time for Part One of spring cleaning. Are you ready? Let’s start by identifying ways you remain stuck – so you can ultimately let go of what holds you back. “All” it takes is willingness plus openness to get rid of anything (people, viewpoints, things or situations) misaligned with the direction you now choose to chart your life.

Comfortable Versus Comfort Zone

First things first – we should distinguish the critical difference between being comfortable versus being stuck inside a comfort zone. When we’re comfortable, the values, perspectives and practices that comprise our daily routine generally serve our aims. They support our dreams, resulting in a level of ease inside our own skin.

On the other hand, once life gets to feeling a little too cozy or familiar, you’ve likely slipped into a comfort zone (often unbeknownst to you). What was once a productive mindset becomes a self-created jail. Imprisoned, your comfort zone renders you lazy. You justify it’s better to play it safe than to step out toward the great unknown. You’re trapped into what some call your default setting – the threshold to which you endlessly return that constricts what’s possible for you.

As Dr. Joe Vitale confirms in Expect Miracles, the problem is that our unconscious boundaries act as protective walls around us. They cap what we can accomplish and sabotage our attempts to reach beyond this artificial imposed ceiling. Two of the strongest self-limiting beliefs you will combat are fear of failure (understandable) and fear of success (surprising). You become afraid to stride past your barriers, even if you say you want to. As a result, you relinquish any progress you do make and risk to never see your goals materialize.

The Top Ten List

The good news is, you possess full power to create the momentum it takes to lift up from your comfort zone. Anyone who has studied physics knows it takes more energy to set an object into motion than it does to keep it moving. If you can generate enough “steam”, you’ll stay on a roll. Then, it’s a matter of deliberate practice where even a step a day will move you forward faster than you can imagine.

To help you remain consistent and persistent in your commitment to get on with your life, here’s some food for thought:

In what ways is your life a comfort zone (and not merely comfortable)?

How can you tell you’ve crossed the line from comfortable to comfort zone?

What are some ways you imprison yourself?

What factors cause you to turn your life into a jail-like comfort zone?

Then, why do you continue to limit yourself from venturing forth?

Do you limit yourself more out of fear of success or fear of failure? Expand your answer for yourself.

What is staying stuck costing you?

How is staying safe benefitting you (because it is)?

To step out of your comfort zone, what inner qualities do you need to strengthen?

On a scale of 1 to 10, how ready are you to let go of what’s not working in your life? If your answer is anything less than an 8, what’s required to bump it up?

Parting Reflections

Remember – comfort unto itself is not a bad thing. Once you’ve slid into a too-comfortable zone, though, it’s time to step out. Along with continuing to reflect on how you can tell the difference between these two ends of the spectrum for yourself, I offer a short extract from a longer poem entitled “Letting Go” (authorship unknown) to encourage you to keep releasing.

To “let go” is not to adjust everything to my desiresBut to take each day as it comes, and cherish myself in itTo “let go” is not to criticize and regulate anybodyBut to try to become what I dream I can be